


The Plant, the Paper and the Powerless

by thekey



Category: The Wayhaven Chronicles (Interactive Fiction)
Genre: Angst, Brooding, Fluff, Longing, Other, What else is expected of Adam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:54:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24334684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thekey/pseuds/thekey
Summary: Adam can hear your heart, its pace quicker than normal as if you had just run. He tries to ignore it, and almost successfully does, but… his own heart is harder to ignore. It pounds in his chest.Because he’s never been alone with you like this before. He feels restless as he stands, gazing out the window but not really looking. He needs to be doing something, but he doesn’t know what. Four months ago he would have been satisfied with staying still like this, but you’ve changed everything.Do you know that?
Relationships: Detective/Adam du Mortain, Female Detective/Adam du Mortain, Gender Neutral Detective/Adam du Mortain, Male Detective/Adam du Mortain
Comments: 7
Kudos: 72





	The Plant, the Paper and the Powerless

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MorningStarJoy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MorningStarJoy/gifts).



> a birthday gift for donnie <3 
> 
> the detective's gender is unspecified, so please enjoy as your detective :)
> 
> _to be edited._
> 
> \-- kc

There’s a small _thump_ that cuts into the silence of the warehouse’s common room. 

Adam’s frown deepens, and the intention the sound is made with is reason enough to draw the vampire leader’s gaze away from the forest outside the window and to the… 

A blond eyebrow shoots up. 

“What’s that?” 

Nate challenges the skepticism with a raised eyebrow of his own. 

“A plant.” 

_So it seems._ Newly placed on one of the side tables in the room, the plant sits in a white ceramic pot, its large leaves a vibrant green with speckles of a slightly lighter shade of the color. A few leaves threaten to spill out of the edges of the pot, the stems connecting it soft rather than rigid. Adam eyes it as if the innocent thing has accused him of a great misdeed. 

Perhaps it has. 

“For?” 

The icy green of Adam’s eyes meet the warmth of Nate’s, hundreds of years of friendship between the gaze, yet this time there settles a lot of… Nate holds back a chuckle, recognizing the look from his friend rather quickly. Suspicion. 

Nate smothers the amusement that threatens to expose his intentions into a deadpan as if what -- or rather, who -- the plant could be for was rather obvious. The furrowing of Adam’s eyebrows as he searches Nate’s face tells the second in command that maybe the 900-year-old vampire knows exactly who the plant is for, but is hoping it’s not. 

“The Detective.” 

There’s a failed attempt to hold back laughter from Felix, who is draped across a chair a few feet away, watching the exchange with the look of one who is thoroughly entertained. He tries to pass the sound off as a cough. 

Adam stiffens, shoulders tensing as he looks away from Nate and back at the golden pothos. With the heated gaze that Adam gives the poor thing, Nate’s surprised that it doesn’t just wilt. A perseverant one, that plant. Much like someone else Nate knows. Someone who hasn’t given up on his friend just yet.

“...Why?”  
Adam’s tone is clipped, and Nate knows he’s stalling. Trying to appear unmoved. A tree that stands firmly rooted in the ground, refusing to bow down to the wind. Grasping at a semblance of normality; of himself before they came to Wayhaven. Before… 

Before the Detective threw him off kilter and changed everything. 

“You broke the plant in the Detective’s office, remember?” 

Felix mumbles something about a desk. 

Nate continues, “And you said that you’d --” 

“I know what I said,” Adam says in a low voice, holding back a growl because this is Nate, and Nate is just being the friend he’s always been. He doesn’t look up. 

There’s a moment of silence, and in it Nate falters a bit, wondering if this was a good idea after all. If Adam wanted to brood in silence, then maybe that was -- 

Adam’s fingers reach out around the potted plant. He gingerly picks it up, shifting his grip so that it rests in the crook of one arm. Almost cradling it. 

Nate smiles warmly at Adam, who looks as if he doesn’t quite know what he’s doing. There’s an uncertainty in those green eyes of his, one that wasn’t familiar until about four months ago. 

And then he blinks and is moving away from Nate and across the common room to the door that leads out into the hallway. 

“I’ll be back,” he says once he reaches the door. 

“Okay, we’ll be here,” Nate says with a smile and an encouraging nod. 

“Though Nate never said you had to do it right now --” 

But Adam has already closed the door before Felix can finish his teasing. 

Nate’s gaze remains on the door for a short while, deep in thought and with hope in his chest. Felix watches Nate with an unusually straight face before a glint of mischief lights his eyes. He shifts in the chair, planting both feet on the rug and resting his elbows on his knees. His fingers lace together. 

“My, my, Natey,” Felix begins. Nate turns to him. “I never thought you’d be one to _scheme_.”

Amusement and a hint of pride dances around the young vampire’s words as he looks at Nate with respect in his gaze. 

The tall vampire rolls his eyes. 

“I’m just helping him. Replacing the Detective’s plant after he broke the pot is the right thing to do.” A light shrug. Hands dig into pockets. “Even more so now that the Detective is part of our team.” 

“Our family,” Felix adds with a thoughtful rub of his chin, eyes searching Nate’s face. He seems to find what he was looking for, a grin pulling at the corners of his mouth. “And getting our almighty leader and our wonderful Detective a moment alone had nothing to do with it?” 

Nate rolls his lips together to suppress a smirk. It’s too late, though, Felix has already seen it. Nate turns on his heels and begins to walk out of the room himself. 

“That would be a likely outcome, wouldn’t it?” Nate says, voice light as he ponders aloud, though it seems he had already considered this long before Felix suggested it.

The young vampire grins. 

.

You are bored. Bored as balls. You tap your pen against the surface of your desk repeatedly. 

Bored as… butts. 

You swivel in your chair, now tapping your pen against your knee. You eye the ceiling accusingly. Your paperwork has mostly been done, files saved and tucked into their rightful folders on your computer. And in a (normally) quiet town like Wayhaven, that left you, as the detective, with… nothing. Nada. 

Bored as books. _Books can’t be bored._ Bored as -- 

A knock raps against the glass partition. And then a familiar voice, one you love to hear. 

“Detective.” 

You spin around quickly, a smile on your face before you’ve even seen him. 

Adam. 

He stiffens under your gaze, shoulders rolling back and back straightening as if his posture could be any more correct. His eyes fall to the smile curling your lips, and that ice in the green… It melts. Softens. 

Your heart thumps hard against your chest. 

“Adam!” Your eyes fall from the softness in the green of his eyes to the dark green bundle held carefully in his hands. “And… plant.” 

You put down your pen and stand up from your chair, walking around your desk only to lean against it to be just that much closer to the vampire. You raise an amused eyebrow at Adam, biting a grin down. He is all too aware of the entertainment you’re finding in this, and his eyes harden, eager to find somewhere to look at that isn’t the distraction your eyes serve as. 

You want him to say it. 

But he doesn’t want to say it. 

You wait. 

He can wait too. 

You raise your eyebrows at him, chin dipping. _Really?_

He raises his eyebrows as well, this time challenging your gaze. 

But then your eyes are sparkling as if his sudden appearance is a gift on your birthday, just the one you’ve been excited to open; the one that’s shaped exactly like the thing you asked for. And he gives in. He loses, and he doesn’t feel terrible about it. Not one bit. 

“I told you I would replace Officer Poname’s gift to you.” 

He steps into your office, and you don’t know why your breath catches in your throat the way it does. You watch him as he moves to the file cabinet where Tina’s plant had once rested and, with a gentleness unfit of a man as strong as he, places the plant there. Almost exactly the place you remember putting the original plant. Or perhaps exactly there. 

Your stomach flips.

He turns to look at you, eyes soft and wandering slowly over your face. You hold your breath. 

Whatever state he was in, he snaps out of it and looks away. 

“That is all, Detective. I apologize once again for breaking your plant. I hope this one makes up for it.” 

You smile, and he watches from the corner of his eye. 

“More than enough, Adam. Thank you. Really.” 

His shoulders relax as if he had been afraid that you would say otherwise. He looks to you again, the intensity of his gaze startling you like always. You remind yourself of how to breathe. 

“Good.” 

He turns quickly, making to move out the door, but your mouth is quicker than that. 

“Wait!” You blurt, not really knowing what you want him to wait for. 

All you know is that you don’t want him to leave. 

He slowly turns back to you, eyes widened just a bit, enough for you to tell that maybe, hopefully, he wants to stay too. 

“Why don’t…” You fumble for a reason for him to stay. One he won’t refuse. One he’ll find tactical sense in as the leader of Unit Bravo. _Think, think, think._ You swallow. “Why don’t you stay until my day’s over? I could catch you up on everything that’s been going on down here. You might find something I missed.” 

_Unlikely_ , you think, and not just because you're damn good at what you do. The action that the circus had brought along with it has finally settled, and Wayhaven has blinked and carried on as normal. But you have nothing else to go on. _Damn it._ This is a flimsy excuse. He’s definitely -- 

“Okay,” he nods, not even pausing a moment to consider it. “I’ll stay.” 

_He’ll… stay?_

He moves to the window and looks outside. 

_He’ll stay._

“Okay,” you say, your voice sounding lighter than you would have liked. 

You hope he can’t hear the flutter of your heart as you move to sit back in your seat. 

.

Adam can hear your heart, its pace quicker than normal as if you had just run. He tries to ignore it, and almost successfully does, but… his own heart is harder to ignore. It pounds in his chest. 

Because he’s never been alone with you like this before. He feels restless as he stands, gazing out the window but not really looking. He needs to be doing something, but he doesn’t know what. Four months ago he would have been satisfied with staying still like this, but you’ve changed everything. 

Do you know that? 

His muscles are about to twitch in anticipation, and thoughts buzz in his mind, bouncing off its walls here and there. 

“So --” 

“Do --”

You speak at the same time that he is about to. He turns to you, hoping the surprise isn’t too evident on his face. Hoping he has caught the softness in his gaze before you can see it. But you are unlike any detective he’s ever worked with, and he knows he’s too late. You smile. 

And maybe it’s okay that he doesn't catch it in time. 

“So, I lied,” you inhale shakily, eyes darting away as if you felt guilty. He can see it on your face, lining the features he would never admit plagues his thoughts every moment he’s not with you. 

You look back at him as if seeking to gauge his reaction. He doesn’t move. 

“I’m done with today’s paperwork and… and nothing of interest or reason to be wary has occurred. I’m sorry. I…” 

_It’s okay_ , he wants to say. _I wanted so desperately to be here. More than you can know._

He bites his tongue and straightens himself. When had he leaned forward to listen to you speak? 

“It is alright.” 

You blink. 

“It-- It is?” 

He nods. 

“Oh,” you breathe, sighing in relief. “That’s good. Thanks.” 

You look away, and so does he. He is unsure of what to do now that there is technically no reason for him to be here, not as the commanding agent of Unit Bravo. That’s all he can remain to you. All he could bear to be. 

He makes to turn back to the window, but then you speak again, and he’s eager to listen. 

“Have you ever made a paper airplane?” 

“I am not Felix.” 

“So you have?” 

He can’t help the small smile that tugs at the corner of his lips. “I have. I am quite good.” 

You raise an eyebrow and lean back in your chair. “Oh? Not as good as I am, I bet.” 

“Is that a challenge?” 

“I did say I’d bet, didn’t I?” 

Oh, you are always full of surprises. 

You pull out a few sheets of paper and grin at him. 

“Are you sure this is a productive use of your time as this town’s detective?” 

You’ve already begun folding your airplane, and you don’t even look up when you reply. “You scared, old man?” 

“Never.” 

It’s far from the truth. He is terrified of the power you have over him. The power that has him sitting in the chair in front of your desk. The power that has him pulling a sheet of paper from the stack and beginning to fold it into an airplane. 

He is terrified. 

.

You are giddy. 

And prideful. 

So, so prideful. Your paper airplane sails across the precinct from your office to the other side of the large room, landing beautifully on the floor. 

Adam’s barely makes it halfway across. The nose crumples when it hits the floor.

“Again! That’s 10, me, the wonderful Detective, and 0, you. Not so good as you said you were.” 

You grin and jab him in the side with your elbow teasingly. 

He growls in frustration, jaw tensing as he looks at his crashed paper airplane as if it has betrayed him. 

You laugh softly, walking to pick up both his and your planes. You dump them in the bin under your desk. 

“Been 70 years since you flew?” 

It’s a joke, but his eyes widen for a second and it has you thinking maybe you can read minds. 

But then again, you probably can’t. Otherwise this would be so much easier. You wouldn’t second guess everything Adam does. 

“Something like that,” he says, his voice almost… _fond._

Of what? You? 

You shake away the wishful thinking. 

“Thanks for staying,” you say, shrugging on your coat. 

Your workday has ended, and you are almost sad that it has. You wonder if Adam will ever be this… unguarded again. 

You thank and say goodbye to the night volunteer. 

“It is nothing,” he says as the two of you walk outside of the building. 

But it is everything. You hope he knows that. 

The two of you step outside of the precinct, and a gentle breeze greets you.  
“It’s not… nothing, Adam.” 

You turn to look at him, only to find he is already looking at you. He does it in a way that steals your breath from your lungs. As if you are the only thing he ever wants to look at. 

The breeze ruffles his hair that he’s let grow just a bit, and the gold of the evening that washes over the town softens the strong lines of his face. You wonder, for a moment, if there are angels, and if he has lied about being a vampire. 

But no, he is just Adam. And you are looking at him through lenses crafted by love, understanding him to be beautiful in a way that no one ever has been to you. 

And probably ever will be. 

A ghost of a smile flickers on the corner of his lips, his gaze soft as it envelops yours. 

“I will see you soon, Detective,” he says softly, the words drenched in something you don’t understand. As if he wants to say something, to reveal something, but doesn’t know how to say it. Doesn’t quite know if he wants to.

You forget how to breathe.

“Bye, Adam,” you breathe, finally remembering how and not really wanting to say goodbye. 

What is it?

He nods, looks down the street, and when seeing no one, is gone in the blink of an eye. As if he were never there. 

A warm feeling curls and uncurls in your chest. 

Hope. 

Hope to someday find out what it is.


End file.
